I bought my wife a new Wrangler Unlimited last week and it's our first Jeep. Nice vehicle. Surprisingly nice ride.

In my quest to "keep mamma happy", she wants some lift, and aftermarket wheels and tires. I've dropped it off w/the dealer to have a 2.5" "basic boost" lift installed.

But holy hell, there are so many friggin' configurations for wheels and tires available it can make a man go insane.

i "think" 35's would fit under there w/just the 2.5" lift. However, i think she'd just be asking for trouble in the long run. lower mpg's, increased wear and tear on steering components etc.

so 35's are out... that only leaves a gazillion more choices.

285/70r17's? I think this may be the cheapest most widely available option, but I had these on my Ram 1500 and they "looked too small" almost immediately. They're barely any taller than the stockers (255/70r18's) but i have considerably more clearance than a jeep.
285/75's maybe? that's just shy of a 34" tire. would that also be too heavy?
Neither of us are fans of the 20+" wheels on 4x4 vehicles. seems to completely defeat the purpose. I think the only way i'd go w/a 20" wheel is on a 37" or larger tire. and um, yeah, that ain't happenin.
The stock Sahara wheels are nice looking and they're 18", but A. they're skinny and B. have like zero offset so they are tucked way inside the fenders and C. she wants blacked out wheels (or at least mostly black w/maybe some accents).

so here are my q's. for any of you jeepers out there...
will i regret going w/a 285/70r17? of if i step up to a 285/75, 295/70, or something along those lines, will i even be able to notice visually the diff from a 285/70? and is the additional cost for these rarer size combos also worth it?

Seems silly, i know. 1st world probs for sure. but you kinda don't get to do this but once every 40-60k miles or so.